1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the detection of unique energy characteristics of an individual living organism. More specifically, the present invention relates to biometric recognition of an organism based on a biometric signature of the individual acquired by sensing unique electric and/or magnetic and/or acoustic properties of the individual by sensors with unique characteristics. Recognition of the individual in this manner enables the individual to perform an action
2. Description of the Related Art
Security methods based on memory data encoded into magnetic cards, such as personal identification numbers or passwords, are widely used in today's business, industrial, and governmental communities. With the increase in electronic transactions and verification, there has been an increase in lost or stolen cards, and forgotten, shared, or observed identification numbers or passwords. Because the magnetic cards offer little security against fraud or theft, there has been a movement toward developing more secure methods of automated recognition based on unique, externally detectable, personal physical anatomic characteristics, such as fingerprints, iris pigment patterns, and retina prints, or external behavior characteristics, such as writing style and voice patterns. Known as biometrics, such techniques are effective in increasing the reliability of recognition systems by identifying a person by characteristics unique to that individual. Some representative techniques include fingerprint recognition, focusing on external personal skin patterns, hand geometry, concentrating on personal hand shape and dimensions, retina scanning, defining a person's unique blood vessel arrangement in the retina of the eye, voice verification, distinguishing an individual's distinct sound waves, and signature verification.
Uses of biometric recognition applications include regulating physical access to restricted areas or devices, and access to computer systems which contain sensitive information used by various governmental, private and public organizations. Additionally, law enforcement applications include home incarceration, parole programs, and physical access into jails or prisons. Also, U.S. government entitlement programs rely on such a system, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), for access to deter fraud.
Biometric recognition can be used in an “identification mode”, in which the biometric system identifies a person from an entire enrolled population by searching a population database for a match. A biometric recognition system can also be used in a “verification mode”, in which the system authenticates a person's claimed identity by comparing previously enrolled patterns of biometric data. In many present biometric applications there is little margin for any inaccuracy in either the identification mode or the verification mode.
Current commercially available biometric methods and systems are limited because they use only externally visible distinguishing characteristics for identification, e.g. fingerprints, iris patterns, hand geometry and blood vessel patterns. The most widely used biometric method is fingerprinting, which is plagued by several problems, including false negative identifications due to dirt, moisture and grease on the print being scanned. Additionally, some individuals have insufficient detail of the print ridge pattern due to trauma or a wearing down of the ridge structure. More importantly, some individuals are reluctant to have their fingerprint patterns memorialized because of the ever-decreasing privacy of personal information.
Other techniques currently in use include iris pigment patterns and retina scanning, which are currently being introduced in many bank systems. However, these are controversial because of the unknown health risks of subjecting eyes to electromagnetic radiation.
Another limitation of current biometric recognition systems is the relative ease with which external physical features can be photographed, copied or lifted. The ease of copying of external characteristics enables unauthorized duplication of fingerprints, eye scans, and other biometric patters. With the advancement of cameras, videos, lasers and synthetic polymers, technology is available to produce a counterfeit human body part with the requisite unique physical patterns and traits of a particular individual. In high-level security systems, which require verification of a presented unique skin or body part for entry, a counterfeit model could be produced, thereby allowing unauthorized entry into a secured facility. As these duplication capabilities become more sophisticated, less costly and more available, there is a greater need to verify whether the body part offered for identification purposes is a counterfeit reproduction or even the severed, lifeless body part of an authorized individual.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,950 suggests that verifying an exterior specific characteristic of an individual, such as a fingerprint, in correlation with a non-specific characteristic, such as oxygen level in the blood, can verify the identity of a person. This method may be effective, but still relies on exterior characteristics for verification of the individual. However, this invention is directed to apparatus and a method for utilizing unique internal characteristics for verification of the identity and viability of an individual. Also, the equipment required by that patent is complicated by having dual operations, which introduce more variables to be checked before identity is verified. This complication is obviated in this invention by using a single sensor to conduct both operations.
Current biometric systems are also limited in size. For example, a fingerprint scanner must be at least as big as the fingerprint it is scanning. Other limitations include the lack of moldability and flexibility of some systems, which prevents incorporation into flexible and moving objects. Finally, the complex scanning systems used in current biometric identification methods are expensive, which prevents their widespread use.
Accordingly, there is a need for more automated and reliable biometric recognition methods and systems, which use non-visible physical characteristics that are not easily copied, photographed, or duplicated. This would eliminate concerns regarding fingerprints that are unidentifiable due to dirt, grease, moisture or external surface deterioration, potential risks involved in eye scanning, costly instrumentation that depends on external characteristics, and the possibility of deceiving a system through use of an artificial reproduction of a unique external characteristic.